Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday officially announced its support to the candidate of Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the upcoming Erode East bypoll.
EPS faction of the AIADMK has fielded KS Thennarasu as its candidate for the seat.
BJP state president K Annamalai issued a letter of support for the candidature of KS Thennarasu.
This follows the withdrawal of the candidature of the O Panneerselvam (OPS) candidate T Senthilmurugan
Annamalai also expressed his thanks to O Pannerselvam for withdrawing their candidate.
"BJP cadres and leaders should work for the win of the AIADMK candidate," said Annamalai.
Notably, today is the last day to file a nomination, and AIADMK candidate Thennarasu will be filing his nomination for Erode East by-election.
Extending its support to the EPS candidate Thennarasu, Tamil Nadu's BJP chief had earlier said that they want someone who is well-known in the constituency to contest the election.
"A candidate who is well known in the constituency, EPS candidate KS Thennarasu is a two-time MLA and we want someone who will be the right person to win. We requested O Panneerselvam to also support the Edappadi Palaniswami's candidate," Annamalai said adding that they won't interfere to the "inter-party issue" but would prefer OPS to withdraw the name of the candidate from his faction.
"No interference by us in the AIADMK inter-party issue...BJP prefers that O Panneerselvam withdraw his candidate," he said.
The bye-election in Erode (east) is scheduled to take place on February 27, as the death of Congress leader Thiru E Thirumahan Everaa necessitated them. Accordingly, Tuesday, February 7 is the last day to file nominations for contesting polls here.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India has approved the 'two leaves' symbol for AIADMK.
ECI also approved the AIADMK Presidium Chairman Tamilmagan Hussain to sign in forms A and B and also authorised candidates to contest on behalf of AIADMK on the two-leaves symbol.
Earlier on Saturday, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction of the AIADMK circulated forms to gather support for its candidate, former MLA Thiru KS Thennarasu, among the General Council members for the upcoming Erode East bypolls.
This comes after the Supreme Court asked the AIADMK party General Council to pass a resolution related to a candidate who will represent the party in the upcoming bye-elections of Erode (East) constituency in Tamil Nadu.
It also permitted the three expelled members of the party including O Panneerselvam (OPS) to vote in the General Council.
The AIADMK has been following a dual-leadership formula with EPS as co-coordinator and OPS as coordinator, since the demise of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in 2016. The clamour for leadership has been growing louder for a single leader in the party since the district secretary meeting on June 14, 2022.
As of July 11, 2022, at the general council meeting of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Edappadi K Palaniswami was elected as the interim general secretary of the party.
( With inputs from ANI )
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